Vash vs. Antigone
by Melli
Summary: An essay I wrote for English about how Vash stood up for his beliefs, just like Antigone. R&R please? (No, not rest & relaxation! >


A/N: This was a writing assignment for my English class last year. Basically what we had to do was write about a person who was like Antigone in that s/he stood up for what s/he believed in despite what everyone else was telling him/her. This isn't really a fanfic, per se, but I thought someone might be interested in reading it. So read it, and review it, and let me know what grade you think it deserves. I'll tell you what I got at the bottom. ^_^ Just keep in mind that my English teacher has no idea what Trigun is, so I was trying to keep everything as simple as possible and only include what's relevant to the assignment. WARNING: Contains spoilers for Project SEEDS. If you don't know what Project SEEDS is, don't read this! Also, disclaimer: I don't own anything in here. Nada.  
  
10-14-01 Antigone Writing Assignment Vash the Stampede is a pacifist outlaw. It seems like an oxy-moron, but, in fact, it's the end result of a very long and complicated story, illustrated by the television series Trigun. On a fictional planet, many years in the future, Vash has a 60 billion double dollar (the local currency) reward on his head. Therefore, wherever he goes, the man is confronted by people trying to kill him or turn him in for the reward money. And as if he doesn't have enough on his plate, his evil twin has sent a group of assassins, the Gung-Ho Guns, after him, in addition to the regular townspeople enticed by the money his brother, Knives, has offered for his capture. Yet, despite being constantly surrounded by violence and death, this unique being remains resolute in his decision to try as hard as possible not to kill, or even harm, any human being, guilty or innocent, evil or good, deserving or inculpable. Contrary to what his outer appearances indicate, Vash is not human. He, along with the few entities like himself, is simply known as a "plant person." At the time the television series takes place, Vash is around 130 years old, but still retains the guise of a 20 year-old. He and Knives were discovered on a space ship from Earth, on its way to colonize an uninhabited planet. The crew members took the infants in and raised them. Within a year, the twins had grown the equivalent of around nine human years and had higher IQ's than anyone else on the ship. Their growth was helped along by a crew member named Rem Saverem, who was a mother-figure to the boys. She nurtured them, saved them from the aggression of the rest of the crew, and taught them core values that stuck with Vash, if not Knives, for the next century and a half. Because Rem was such a peaceful and idealistic woman, she passed these ethics down to the children and Vash still looks to her (rather, to her ideals, seeing as how she's long dead) in times of need. Although she was killed after only two years with him, Rem's lessons were the basis for Vash's extreme pacifism. Although a very skilled gunman and faced with almost daily fights, Vash despises violence and adversity of any kind. His motto, which he chants quite often, is "Love and peace!" Keeping this motto in mind, he defeats many enemies, but not by killing them. Instead he merely incapacitates his foe, and gets really upset when anyone at all is killed. For example, one particular foe has a massive shield of armor that conceals weapons. Vash destroys the armor and, therefore, the weapons, but leaves the man unharmed. Another example is about midway through the series. When an adversary is killed, the outlaw is intensely distraught for quite a while, even though the deceased was trying to eliminate him. Vash avoids fighting, but will resort to the use of his three guns, if necessary. It is rather difficult not to use the guns, on account of the fact that a gun has actually been built into one of his arms, but the outlaw does a remarkable job. One of his many nicknames, the Humanoid Typhoon, is acquired because it seems every town he visits is laid to waste. In fact, this is not his fault at all, as seen in several episodes of Trigun. The blame goes to his pursuers, who do much more damage with their respective weapons. While each of the Gung-Ho Guns use up all of their ammo and generally destroy a lot of property (and even take lives), Vash can overpower them with as few as six bullets, none of which cause any serious injuries or casualties. The entire series leads up to one climactic fight at the very end: Vash versus his twin, Knives. The main character goes into the confrontation very adamant about not killing his brother. In the end, he and his peaceable morals triumph, and Knives is defeated with very little bloodshed. Thus Vash can live another 130 years and more beating back the brutality and promoting "love and peace!"  
  
A/N: Thank you for reading my "fic"! Anyway, I told you I'd tell you what grade this earned me. I got an A! *^_^* Yay me! Drop me a review and let me know if you disagree with Mrs. Simms, for better or for worse. 


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